For several years now there is in Belgium an amazing band called AmenRa. The style they play is described as ‘sludge’ or ‘doom’ or ‘trance’, indefinable actually. They did several legendary shows on different locations including theatres. They already toured the United States but what many readers probably aren’t aware of is the fact that band members are also active in many side-projects. I will discuss three of them in this post.
The most famous side-project on global scale, is the Belgian HOLY TERROR band on Dwid Integrity’s obscure label ‘Holy Terror Records’. You already know what I’m talking about; the mighty BLIND TO FAITH. The link of this band with AmenRa is Colin who plays bass. Blind To Faith is not only connected with AmenRa but also with Rise And Fall (Vince) and Reproach (Stijn).
The record beneath is the material result of the project:
Later this year A389 Records will release a split 7″ of this band with GEHENNA.
The second side-project is this totally obscure band called ‘KINGDOM‘. They also have a record out, it is available on LP and CD. The label that released this is Genet Recordings (The label that’s also responsible for releasing many H8000 classics back in the days, but also vegan straight-edge releases were done and many compilations).
The links between AmenRa and Kingdom are Colin and Mathieu. I have the LP and you can check this here:
Exists on white vinyl also; hand numbered out of 112:
Unfortunately both formats are totally sold out.
The last side-project is HIVE DESTRUCTION. This is a strong effort done by KJM, an ex-member of Amen Ra and Matthias from LIAR. They have brought out a demo CD in two versions, call them first and second press if you want. I have both and here they are:
FIRST PRESS out of 65:
SECOND PRESS:
Their first, one and only T-shirt:
This music is not for the feint of heart.
As to finish up this post I’d like to say that Colin -who’s starring in the most bands here- also played in SPINELESS, an old but still legendary H8000 hardcore band.
I also made a visualization of these interconnected Belgian bands by linking the band members to the several bands they played in and putting all this in a diagram (which is funny but interesting):
